Jewel Weed and Bleeding Heart

Jewel weed is a native annual that grows throughout the eastern US.  It likes shady areas and blooms in late summer, starting about mid-August.  The plant pictured here is in a bed adjacent to the sidewalk approaching my front door.  The area is always shady, never getting direct sun.  The jewel weed just showed up one year and I encouraged it. However, I did not water it last summer--a bad drought year--which caused it to largely die off before blooming.  Only a few plants came up this year.

It's rumored to be therapeutic for poison ivy and can be applied after exposure, limiting the allergic reaction.  It often grows in the same areas, since poison ivy is also a shade-loving plant.  I don't have any at the other place, however. I've only seen it growing once out in the woods, on a running trail I used to use. I'm hoping to harvest some seed pods this year from my little stand of it in the suburbs.

Bleeding heart is another native that I have never seen in the wild.  However, long ago I planted some in the same area that has the jewel weed.  Bleeding heart is a perennial and comes up very early in the year, going dormant before the jewel weed comes on strong.  They aren't quite as complementary as crocus and later-blooming perennials like hyacinths, but they can share space without too much trouble.

Bleeding heart crowns can be purchased online and (around here) in big-box stores during winter.   They live a long time, but the ones in the picture no longer look so nice; years of drought with limited watering have caused them to decline.  Even without drought stress, they may eventually decline, anyway.  This picture was shot a few years ago in early May when the stand was about 10 years old.  Replanting would probably be called for at this point.  A few volunteers have sprouted over the years from seed.  I have left them where they sprouted, but I could probably have transplanted them to see how they would do.

Although the plant does well in shade, it does seem to be sensitive to crowding.   There was a large bush in the same area; the bleeding hearts closest to it did not thrive.